Summit Push on Manaslu: One Attempt Thwarted, Second Team Going Up

Earlier this week, an offhand attempt to summit Manaslu remained unsuccessful. The Dutch team turned back from 7200m, as weather window closed down while Sherpa worked on route opening. They didn’t have sufficient time to reach summit and descend safely. Weather-forecast is still a bit vague. While wind is predicted to remain silent, heavy snowfall is expected throughout next week. Slovak-Romanian team is heading up normal route for a potential summit-push.

Manaslu at Sunset; Photo: Korps Mariniers

A Lot of Snow
Dutch Korps Mariniers and Slovak-Romanian team have been working on the mountain in tandem. Peter Hamor, Horia Colibasanu and Michal Gabriš turned back from around 6200m last week, when excessive snow and bad weather didn’t let them reach C3. The team went down to Samagaun for some time and returned to BC only yesterday.

As Slovak-Romanian team returned to lower altitude, Korps Mariniers team headed upwards on April 30th.

Manaslu C3; Source: Korps Mariniers

First Summit Attempt Failed
Korps Mariniers, while opening the route to C3 and C4, decided to go for summit earlier this week. They were targeting to reach the top on May 2nd. The team arrived at C3 (6700m) on May 1st. “For one of the first times the weather is calm and there is no snowfall in the afternoon and evening.” Base Camp team reported that evening.

However, the distance from C3 to summit was too much to be covered in a single day, through deep snow. They turned back from 7200m, just below the traditional C4.

“The route is in and now well known to the teams, fixed ropes in situ, camp 1, 2 and 3 established so basically we managed to reach our goals much earlier than anticipated.” The team now awaits good weather to launch the second summit push.

Going Up
Peter Hamor, Horia Colibasanu and Michal Gabriš are heading up the mountain for a potential summit attempt via normal route. This climb will serve the purpose of acclimatization, before ultimate new route/variant attempt on North Ridge.

“Peter, Horia and Michal got off to Camp 1 early in the morning. According to weather – they will decide what’s next.” Peter Hamor’s team updated a while back.